Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion – mostly through
spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.

We’ll bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for Medicare, because our
medical bills shouldn’t be based on the number of tests ordered or days spent in the hospital – they should be based on the quality of care that our seniors receive.

On Medicare, I’m prepared to enact reforms that will achieve the same amount of health care savings by the beginning of the next decade as the reforms proposed by the
bipartisan Simpson-Bowles commission.

a degree granted by a two-year college on successful completion of the undergraduates course of studies

At schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York Public Schools, the City University of New York, and IBM, students will graduate with a high school diploma and an
associate degree in computers or engineering.

And those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace the need for modest reforms – otherwise, our
retirement programs will crowd out the investments we need for our children, and jeopardize the promise of a secure retirement for future generations.

In 2011, Congress passed a law saying that if both parties couldn’t agree on a plan to reach our deficit goal, about a trillion dollars’ worth of
budget cuts would automatically go into effect this year.

It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country – the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can
get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like, or who you love.

At schools like P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York Public Schools, the
City University of New York, and IBM, students will graduate with a high school diploma and an associate degree in computers or engineering.

We won’t grow the middle class simply by shifting the cost of health care or college onto families that are already struggling, or by forcing communities to lay off more teachers, cops, and
firefighters.

Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion – mostly through spending cuts, but also by raising
tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.

And tomorrow, my Administration will release a new “College
Scorecard” that parents and students can use to compare schools based on a simple criteria: where you can get the most bang for your educational buck.

And those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace the need for modest reforms – otherwise, our retirement programs will
crowd out the investments we need for our children, and jeopardize the promise of a secure retirement for future generations.

connected by blood or close acquaintance with people of wealth or social position

To hit the rest of our deficit reduction target, we should do what leaders in both parties have already suggested, and save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the well-off and
well-connected.

So tonight, I’m announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the Departments of Defense and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers of
high-tech jobs.

a weapon of mass destruction whose explosive power derives from a nuclear reaction

Likewise, the leaders of Iran must recognize that now is the time for a diplomatic solution, because a coalition stands united in demanding that they meet their obligations, and we will do what is necessary to prevent them from getting a
nuclear weapon.

And we’ll work to strengthen families by removing the financial deterrents to marriage for low-income couples, and doing more to encourage
fatherhood – because what makes you a man isn’t the ability to conceive a child; it’s having the courage to raise one.

a terrorist network intensely opposed to the United States that dispenses money and logistical support and training to a wide variety of radical Islamic terrorist groups; has cells in more than 50 countries

Because of them, we can say with confidence that America will complete its mission in Afghanistan, and achieve our objective of defeating the core of al
Qaeda.

To hit the rest of our deficit reduction target, we should do what leaders in both parties have already suggested, and save hundreds of billions of dollars by getting rid of tax loopholes and deductions for the
well-off and well-connected.

We are negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two missions: training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country does not again slip into chaos, and counter-terrorism efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their
affiliates.

So the United States will join with our allies to eradicate such extreme poverty in the next two decades: by connecting more people to the global economy and empowering women; by giving our young and brightest minds new opportunities to serve and helping communities to feed, power, and educate themselves; by saving the world’s children from
preventable deaths; and by realizing the promise of an AIDS-free generation.

Overwhelming majorities of Americans – Americans who believe in the 2nd Amendment – have come together around
commonsense reform – like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun.

Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the
deficit by more than $2.5 trillion – mostly through spending cuts, but also by raising tax rates on the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.